Zquirrel.com
Threat Scorecard
EnigmaSoft Threat Scorecard
EnigmaSoft Threat Scorecards are assessment reports for different malware threats which have been collected and analyzed by our research team. EnigmaSoft Threat Scorecards evaluate and rank threats using several metrics including real-world and potential risk factors, trends, frequency, prevalence, and persistence. EnigmaSoft Threat Scorecards are updated regularly based on our research data and metrics and are useful for a wide range of computer users, from end users seeking solutions to remove malware from their systems to security experts analyzing threats.
EnigmaSoft Threat Scorecards display a variety of useful information, including:
Ranking: The ranking of a particular threat in EnigmaSoft’s Threat Database.
Severity Level: The determined severity level of an object, represented numerically, based on our risk modeling process and research, as explained in our Threat Assessment Criteria.
Infected Computers: The number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular threat detected on infected computers as reported by SpyHunter.
See also Threat Assessment Criteria.
Threat Level: | 50 % (Medium) |
Infected Computers: | 51 |
First Seen: | September 15, 2015 |
Last Seen: | April 14, 2022 |
OS(es) Affected: | Windows |
The Zquirrel.com website is associated with a browser hijacker that may be listed in your Extension Manager simply as Zquirrel. The Zquirrel extension may have arrived on your PC as a search optimizer, and you may notice it listed in the 'Control Panel' under the name Zquirrel Extension. The Zquirrel browser hijacker is developed by ClickMeIn Limited that are responsible for badware such as YellowSend and AnySend that they used to earn affiliate marketing revenue by pushing advertisements in the browsers of infected users. This time around, ClickMeIn Limited decided to step up their game and use the Zquirrel extension to alter the INI configuration of most browsers and Windows Registry. PC users that are affected by the Zquirrel browser hijacker may be subjected to use Zquirrel.com as their start page and default search provider. Also, the Zquirrel browser hijacker may edit their DNS settings to obstruct their access to Google, Yandex, Bing and Yahoo. The search filed at Zquirrel.com is not designed to help users find what they seek—it is designed to help marketers grab a hold of your search keywords and load related advertisements as the first three search results.
Another interesting fact is that while the layout of Zquirrel.com is nearly identical to Google, users that hit the search button are rerouted to a modified Yahoo page. The Zquirrel browser hijacker may present users with links to untrusted online stores when keywords related to clothing, accessories, and home appliances are entered at Zquirrel.com. The Zquirrel.com site may seem like Google.com, but users should not be fooled and need to know that their session is not encrypted with SSL, and risk leaking sensitive information to third parties. The manual removal of the Zquirrel browser hijacker may leave residual files on your PC and tracking cookies that may be accessed by untrusted ad networks. Security investigators report that the Zquirrel browser hijacker may employ names like Zquirrel: New Tab Extension and Zquirrel Weather to appear in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera. You need to use a trustworthy anti-malware suite to eradicate the binary associated with Zquirrel.com entirely.
Submit Comment
Please DO NOT use this comment system for support or billing questions. For SpyHunter technical support requests, please contact our technical support team directly by opening a customer support ticket via your SpyHunter. For billing issues, please refer to our "Billing Questions or Problems?" page. For general inquiries (complaints, legal, press, marketing, copyright), visit our "Inquiries and Feedback" page.